ROAD CONSTRUCTION MACHINE, IN PARTICULAR ROAD PAVER OR FEEDER, AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING SUCH A ROAD CONSTRUCTION MACHINE

Abstract

A road construction machine, in particular a road paver or feeder, for placing a paving material in a paving direction, and to a method for converting a road construction machine.

Claims

1. A road construction machine, in particular a road paver or feeder, for placing a paving material in a paving direction, comprising: a machine frame; an operator platform; a drive motor; a travel mechanism with at least one left-hand travel unit and one right-hand travel unit, a material hopper arranged in the paving direction at the front of the road construction machine for storing paving material, the material hopper comprising: a left-hand swivel section; and a right-hand swivel section, wherein the left-hand and right-hand swivel sections each have a rear wall element, a floor wall element forming a floor surface of the material hopper, a side wall element protruding upright from the floor wall element and, towards the front, a front loading edge extending transversely to a longitudinal direction of the machine, and a longitudinal conveyor extending along the longitudinal axis of the machine, which is configured to transport paving material from the material hopper in the paving direction to the rear, wherein the right-hand and left-hand swivel sections each have an inner edge facing the longitudinal conveyor, wherein the swivel sections are each adjustable between a swiveled-down filling position and a swiveled-up emptying position in order to move paving material onto the longitudinal conveyor, wherein the swivel sections each have a base section and a replacement section firmly connected to the base section via a releasable fastening device, wherein the replacement section in each case forms a part of the inner edge and a part of the loading edge of the floor surface of the respective swivel section, and wherein the floor wall element is formed jointly by the base section and the replacement section.

2. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein in a horizontal projection plane the replacement section is surrounded exclusively by at least a part of the loading edge, a part of the inner edge and an abutting edge towards the base section.

3. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein in a horizontal projection plane the replacement section essentially has the shape of a triangle, in particular a right-angled triangle.

4. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein the floor surface formed by the base section and the floor surface formed by the replacement section are configured such that they merge seamlessly into one another.

5. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein the floor surface formed by the base section and the replacement section is configured essentially as a flat overall surface.

6. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein the replacement section is configured to overlap a front plate of the material hopper in the vertical direction.

7. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein the releasable fastening device comprises at least one of the following features: it comprises one or more form-fitting elements that are at least partially complementary to one another in the connection region between the replacement section and the base section; it comprises one or more releasable threaded connections; it comprises one or more releasable threaded connections whose thread axes run parallel to each other and/or extend essentially parallel to the plane of the floor surface.

8. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein an abutting edge between the base section and the replacement section is linear, in particular completely linear.

9. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein the fastening device is arranged on a lower side of the swivel section.

10. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein an adjusting actuator, which is configured to drive an adjustment movement of a swivel section from the filling position to the emptying position, is arranged between the machine frame and the base section and/or the side wall element of the swivel section.

11. The road construction machine according to claim 1, wherein the fastening device comprises a sealing means.

12. A method for converting a road construction machine according to claim 1, comprising the steps of: a. dismantling (I) the replacement section from the base section, at least comprising releasing the fastening device; b. installing (II) a scraper plate that can be swiveled relative to the base section via a swivel joint.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein installing (II) in step b) is carried out at least partially using (III) parts of the fastening device on the base section, via which the replacement section was fastened to the base section.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein a step c) comprises replacing (IV) a front panel which is stationary relative to the machine frame with a front flap which can be swiveled relative to the machine frame between a swiveled-down loading position and a swiveled-up unloading position.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The invention will be explained in more detail below by reference to the embodiment examples shown in the figures. In the schematic figures:

[0034] FIG. 1 is an oblique perspective view of a road construction machine with swivel sections in the filling position from the front left;

[0035] FIG. 2 is a front view of the road construction machine of FIG. 1 with swivel sections in the emptying position;

[0036] FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a material hopper of the road construction machine type shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the swivel variant with swivel sections in the filling position;

[0037] FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the material hopper of FIG. 3 with swivel sections in the emptying position;

[0038] FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of a material hopper in the scraper variant with swivel sections in the filling position;

[0039] FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the material hopper of FIG. 5 with swivel sections in the emptying position;

[0040] FIG. 7 is a top view of a swivel section of the swivel variant of FIGS. 3 and 4;

[0041] FIG. 8 is a perspective exploded view of the swivel section shown in FIG. 7;

[0042] FIG. 9 is an oblique perspective view of a swivel section of the scraper variant of FIGS. 5 and 6;

[0043] FIG. 10 shows the swivel section of FIGS. 3, 4, 7 and 8 (swivel variant) with a front plate and in the emptying position;

[0044] FIG. 11 shows the swivel section of FIGS. 5, 6 and 9 (scraper variant) with a front plate in the filling position;

[0045] FIG. 12 shows the swivel section of FIGS. 5, 6 and 9 (scraper variant) with a front plate in the emptying position; and

[0046] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a method for converting a road construction machine.

[0047] Like components or components acting in a like manner are designated by like reference numerals in the figures. Recurring parts are not necessarily designated separately in each figure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] FIG. 1 shows a road construction machine 1, specifically a road paver. The road construction machine 1 comprises an operator platform 2, a machine frame 3, a drive motor 4 (not shown in detail in FIG. 1), for example an electric motor or a combustion engine, and a material hopper 5 arranged at the front in the paving direction a. The paving direction a indicates the direction in which the road construction machine 1 moves over the underlying ground during operation. The road construction machine 1 extends with its longitudinal machine direction in a straight ahead paving direction a. The road construction machine 1 comprises a travel mechanism 6 for locomotion, for example comprising one or more crawler tracks and/or wheels as travel units. In the present exemplary embodiment, the travel mechanism 6 comprises a right and a left crawler track as travel units.

[0049] In FIG. 1, the road construction machine 1 is a road paver. Said road paver also includes a paving screed 7. The screed is usually pulled by the rest of the paver such that it floats on a material mat laid out at the rear, thereby smoothing and compacting the laid out paving material. During operation, the material hopper 5 of the road paver is filled with paving material by, for example, a truck driving ahead of the road paver. Alternatively, the material hopper 5 may be filled by a so-called feeder.

[0050] Such feeders are likewise road construction machines 1 and also have a basic structure similar to the road paver. The main difference between the feeder and the road paver is that instead of the paving screed 7, there is a loading conveyor belt via which paving material stored in the material hopper of the feeder can be transferred into the material hopper of the road paver, which usually travels behind the feeder during the paving process, in order to ultimately facilitate a continuous paving process of the road paver.

[0051] The paving material is transported from the material hopper 5 to the rear of the road construction machine 1 in the opposite direction to the paving direction a. For this purpose, a longitudinal conveyor 8 is provided, for example in the form of a scraper floor or similar, via which the paving material can be transported out of the material hopper 5 to the rear of the road construction machine 1 as seen in the paving direction a. The paving material reaching the rear region of the road construction machine 1 is then transferred onto a subsequent road paver with the aid of a conveyor in the case of a feeder or, in the case of a road paver, distributed across the entire paving width transverse to the paving direction a and smoothed and compacted by the paving screed 7. For this purpose, the road paver may have a transverse spreading device, for example in the form of screw conveyors.

[0052] The road construction machine 1 is operated from the operator platform 2. For this purpose, at least one operating device, for example in the form of an operating panel or console, is usually provided on the operator platform. During paving operation, the operator stands or sits in front of the operating device on the operator platform 2, as seen in the paving direction a.

[0053] The material hopper 5 thus serves to receive and store the paving material on the road construction machine 1. It is desirable for the material hopper 5 to provide a sufficiently large storage capacity for paving material. On the other hand, it is also advantageous if the material hopper 5 is configured such that the paving material stored therein can be emptied and fed to the paving process as quantitatively as possible. For this purpose, the material hopper 5 comprises swivel sections 91 and 9r, which are adjustable between a filling position, as shown for example in FIG. 1, and an emptying position, as shown for example in FIG. 2, and in particular can be swiveled about a swivel axis running horizontally and in the paving direction a.

[0054] In terms of its basic structure, the material hopper arranged in the paving direction a at the front of the road construction machine 1 comprises a right-hand swivel section 9r and a left-hand swivel section 91 as seen in the paving direction a. Between the swiveled-down filling position (for example as shown in FIG. 3), in which the storage capacity of the material hopper 5 is at its largest, these can each be swiveled up about a swivel axis S extending in the paving direction a into an emptying position, for example as shown in FIG. 4. By swiveling the two swivel sections 9r, 91 upwards, a kind of funnel-like shape of the material hopper 5 is achieved, so that the paving material held in the outer edge areas of the material hopper can also slide towards the center in the direction of the longitudinal conveyor 8 and from there be conveyed backwards out of the material hopper 5 against the paving direction a. The material hopper 5 comprises a rear wall 10, a floor wall 11 and side walls 12. These walls are at least partially formed by the two swivel sections 9r, 91, which have a rear wall element 11, a floor wall element 12 and a side wall element 13 for this purpose. The rear wall element 11, the floor wall element 12 and the side wall element 13 thus move together with the swivel section 9r, 91 about the respective swivel axis S when the two swivel sections 9r, 91 are swiveled. In particular, the rear wall 11 and also the floor wall 12 may additionally comprise portions that are stationary relative to the machine frame 3 and accordingly are not swiveled when the swivel sections 9r, 91 are adjusted and accordingly keep their relative position in relation to the machine frame 3. The material hopper 5 is also lowered in the paving direction a towards the front with respect to its upper edge and includes a loading edge 14 there. At the loading edge 14, retaining aprons 15, in particular elastic ones, for example made of a plastic or rubber material, may be provided which protrude to a comparatively small extent in the vertical direction and prevent, at least to a limited extent, the paving material from falling out forwardly in the paving direction a over the loading edge 14. The swivel sections 9r, 91 each have an inner edge 16 adjacent to the longitudinal conveyor 8, via which the paving material falls from the respective swivel section 9r, 91 onto the longitudinal conveyor 8, in particular when the swivel sections 9r, 91 are swiveled up individually or together about their respective swivel axis S from the filling position to their emptying position.

[0055] With regard to the functional scope of individual components of the material hopper 5, there are various possible augmentation stages, with an increased functional scope usually involving increased manufacturing and maintenance costs. FIGS. 3 and 4 show functionalities of the swivel variant. A comparison of FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrates that in this variant the swivel sections 9r and 91 swivel uniformly as a common unit about the respective swivel axis S when moving between the filling position (FIG. 3) and the emptying position (FIG. 4). This variant is comparatively inexpensive and ideally suited for many applications. One of the challenges for the operator of the road construction machine 1 in this variant, however, is to ensure during operation of the road construction machine 1 when swiveling up the swivel sections 9r, 91 that, as far as possible, no paving material from the material hopper is pushed in the paving direction a out of the material hopper 5 over the loading edge 14, in particular in the region of a front plate 17 arranged stationary relative to the machine frame 3 and running in extension of the longitudinal conveyor 8 in the paving direction a up to the loading edge 14, and is therefore no longer available for the further paving process in the desired manner.

[0056] For this reason, the scraper variant illustrated in more detail in FIGS. 5 and 6 exists as an alternative augmentation stage of the material hopper 5. This variant differs from the swivel variant in that it has an increased range of functions. Instead of the front plate 17, which is stationary relative to the machine frame 3, there is a front plate 18 that can be swiveled open about an axis running horizontally and transversely to the paving direction a, and which is swiveled down in the filling position and swiveled up in the emptying position such that the front loading edge 14 of the material hopper 5 is displaced upwards in the vertical direction. At the same time, the swivel sections 9r and 91 each comprise a scraper plate 20, which is mounted to the respectively remaining swivel section components so as to swivel relative to them about a swivel axis K, which in the filling position extends horizontally and at an angle to the swivel axis S of the respective swivel section 9r, 9l. The front flap 18 comprises an actuator 21, for example a hydraulic cylinder, for driving the adjustment movement of the front flap 18. Since the two scraper plates 20 overlap the front flap 18 arranged in the vertical direction below the scraper plates 20, the front flap 18 takes the two scraper plates 20 with it, so that, as a comparison of FIGS. 5 and 6 in particular makes clear, a completely funnel-like overall structure directed towards the longitudinal conveyor 8 is also achieved in the region of the loading edge 14. It is obvious that this arrangement significantly reduces the risk of paving material falling out from the material hopper 5 when the swivel sections 9r, 91 are adjusted to the emptying position compared to the swivel variant. However, the overall structure is also more complex and therefore more costly and maintenance-intensive.

[0057] In order to prevent the customer from having to commit to either the swivel variant or the scraper variant from the outset when purchasing such a road construction machine 1 and ideally even to enable conversion from one variant to the other variant on the construction site, according to the invention, the swivel sections 9r, 91 of the swivel variant now have a base section 22 and a replacement section 23. This is illustrated in more detail in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9. It should also be noted that the descriptions in the figures, some of which are based only on the one swivel section 9r, apply equally to the left-hand swivel section 91 (which in the present case can be configured to be mirror-symmetrical to the swivel section 9r).

[0058] The base section 22 and the replacement section 23 are firmly connected to each other via a fastening device 24 and form a rigid unit in this state. However, this firm connection via the fastening device 24 is configured to be releasable, in particular in a non-destructive manner. Specifically, for example, corresponding fastening openings may be provided in the base section 22 and in the replacement section 23, through which releasable fastening screws or the like can be passed to connect these two sections. When installed, the replacement section 23 forms at least substantially and in particular exclusively a part of the floor surface or floor wall 12 of the respective swivel section 9r. When the replacement section 23 is projected in a virtual horizontal projection plane, as shown for example in FIG. 7, the replacement section 23 may include a part of the loading edge 14 and the inner edge 16 as well as an abutting edge 25, which is the edge of the replacement section 23 adjacent to the base section 22. In the assembled state, the abutting edge 25 thus extends within the floor surface of the material hopper 5. The replacement section may accordingly have a triangular contour in this projection plane, in particular in the form of a right-angled triangle. In the region of the abutting edge 25, a scaling means may further be arranged between the base section 22 and the replacement section 23 in order to facilitate subsequent releasing of the fastening device.

[0059] The swivel section 9r thus comprises the base section 22, which includes the side wall element 13, in particular in its entirety, the rear wall element 11, in particular in its entirety, but only a part of the floor wall element 12. The remaining part of the floor wall element 12 is formed by the replacement section 23, which preferably forms exclusively a part of the floor wall element 12 of the swivel section 9r in relation to the wall elements 11, 12 and 13. While remaining stationary in itself, this overall unit as a whole can also be swiveled relative to the front plate 17, as illustrated in FIG. 10. The front flap 17 is stationary relative to, for example, the machine frame 3 of the road construction machine 1. Relative to this overall structure, the swivel section 9r (and also 91), comprising the base section 22 and the replacement section 23, is swiveled up to the emptying position shown in FIG. 10. An actuator 26 (shown as an example in FIG. 2) may be provided to drive this adjustment movement. This actuator 26, for example a hydraulic cylinder, is preferably arranged between the machine frame 3 or at least a part of the road construction machine 1 that is stationary relative to the machine frame 3 and the base section 22 of the respective swivel section 9 and is therefore not articulated directly to the replacement section 23, although this is generally also possible.

[0060] The swivel section 9r, 91, in particular the replacement section 23, may be free of overlap with respect to the front plate 17, but may also overlap the latter at least partially.

[0061] The base section 22 and the replacement section 23 may be connected to each other in such a way that their floor surface areas lie in a common plane. They may both be flat in the region of their floor surface and configured such that they merge seamlessly into one another.

[0062] The division of the swivel section into the base section 22 and the replacement section 23 is therefore not actually required for the use of the swivel variant, as these two elements are always used as a fixed overall unit. However, the presence of this predetermined separation point between the base section 22 and the replacement section 23 makes it considerably easier to upgrade the road construction machine 1 from the swivel variant to the scraper variant. The main steps of the conversion method provided for this purpose are explained in the flow chart of FIG. 13 and are also illustrated in more detail in the other figures.

[0063] The method for converting a road construction machine 1 comprises, if the road construction machine 1 is converted from the swivel variant to the scraper variant, dismantling the replacement section 23 from the base section 22 in a step I. For this purpose, the fastening device 24 is released, for example by releasing a suitable threaded connection or a comparable releasable connection. This allows the replacement section 23 to be selectively removed from the respective swivel section 9r, 91, as shown in FIG. 8 as an example. The remaining swivel section 9r, 91 (or the respective base section 22) can remain on the road construction machine 1.

[0064] Instead of the replacement section 23, in a step II a scraper plate 20 swiveling relative to the base section 22 is mounted on the base section 22, wherein in step III installing is preferably carried out at least partially using parts of the fastening device 24 on the base section 22, via which the replacement section 23 was fastened to the base section 22. In contrast to the replacement section 23, however, the scraper plate 24 is not fastened to the base section 22 in a fixed or stationary manner, but is connected in an articulated manner, for example via a swivel joint, in particular via a swivel hinge. The scraper plate 20 may further differ in its contour from the replacement section 23. In fact, it is advantageous if the scraper plate 20 is a larger floor surface element 12 or has a larger base surface compared to the replacement section 23 and, in particular, if its corner formed by the loading edge 14 and the abutting edge 24 is extended further towards the longitudinal center axis, i.e., in the direction of the longitudinal conveyor 8. As a result, the scraper plate 20 overlaps the area of the front plate 17 of the swivel variant or the front plate 18 of the scraper variant and can thus swivel in relative to the base section 22 when the respective swivel section 9r, 91 is adjusted by the swivel-up movement of the swivel section 9r, 91 per se and/or by an upward swivel of the front flap 18 towards the longitudinal conveyor 8, thereby effecting optimized material guidance towards the longitudinal conveyor 8.

[0065] Accordingly, in a step IV, the conversion method may comprise replacing the front plate 17, which is stationary relative to the machine frame 3, with the front flap 18, which can be swiveled relative to the machine frame 3 between a swiveled-down loading position and a swiveled-up unloading position. This additional conversion step may also comprise the installation of the actuator 21 or at least connecting the front flap 18 to the actuator 21, which may also be pre-installed. For this purpose, the road construction machine 1 may be equipped with a special accommodation space 27, in particular below the front plate 17, in which the actuator 21 is pre-installed or can be installed later.

[0066] The functionalities gained by the described conversion are illustrated in particular by a comparison of FIG. 10 concerning the swivel variant with FIGS. 11 and 12 concerning the scraper variant. In the swivel variant, the swivel section 9r swivels as a rigid unit about the swivel axis S from the filling position to the emptying position shown in FIG. 10. This movement takes place, for example, adjacent to the front plate 17 or with comparatively little overlap.

[0067] In comparison, in the scraper variant shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the swivel section 9r, 91 is not only swiveled upwards, specifically from the filling position shown in FIG. 11 towards the emptying position shown in FIG. 12. Because the scraper plate 20 overlaps the front flap 18 (or also the front plate 17), it also swivels in relative to the swivel section 9r towards the interior of the material hopper 5, scrapes over the floor surface formed by the front flap 18 (or the front plate 17) and pushes any material located there towards the longitudinal conveyor 8. At the same time, this additionally narrows the free space between the two swivel sections 9r and 91 towards the loading edge 14, so that this increased configuration effort reduces the overall risk of paving material falling out from the material hopper 5 via the loading edge 14 when the swivel sections 9r, 91 are adjusted.